during times of crisis or war have russia's had that and times america has had that at times i mean it's republicans in the empire no doubt but he was one of my books i call him a republican emperor because yes he was an emperor and he took power based on his skills and by the way he took power based on the desires of the french people the french people and they probably cite overwhelmingly ratified him as emperor and i have never read any where the vote was rigged he was extremely popular and becoming emperor because you know france was under attack from from some of the other countries and europe ever since the days of the french revolution in england and some of the old regime was in europe were trying to force the french to accept the bourbon king back again. and france's economy was it was a basket case it was just completely in the tank the revolutionary government and

the director had been totally unsuccessful in taking care of it so they wanted a strong leader they got a strong leader within one year he had to fix the economy he reorganized and made more equitable the education system he formed the bank of france where ever he went he opened up the jewish ghettos and remove it was you you definitely are a fan of new guy as well but it's not a common thing about a lot of this comes from the serious study of a you have you got to realize i've read an awful lot about well i'm sure i'm sure will but still i'm going to ask you my next question because there are big because we are more king these days that two hundred used since the historic russian campaign of the pope bonaparte to end here in this country the russians are convinced that first of all that the boat had lost this war definitely and that and that it was the russian campaign that actually was the beginning of the end of the pole you know as. the emperor and it was the it was he knew that he's glory and

arrogance actually and so is this a fact do you believe that really the russian campaign was the main cause of the put in the in the play to probably disagree with the word arrogance and we can talk about that all night but but absolutely otherwise completely agree of course the russian campaign was the single biggest reason why the polling in the critical you say single biggest single ladies i mean there there were there were other factors there the confederation of the rhine which was the german confederation was beginning to lead to a sense of german unity and with that came believe that why do they need to be under the auspices of the french empire the spanish ulcer obviously was was another a military problem for for napoleon but there's no question about of the single biggest reason for the ultimate decline of the polian was the campaign of eight

hundred twelve he was he was a pretty clever kid and he was a smart politician so do you think today looking looking back at history that it was absolutely necessary for france to start this campaign or was it the adventure well. absolutely does a serious is a strong thing nothing is ever absolutely necessary there's almost always a way you can you can try to find something you know afford to have an independent share at the eastern borders of from one part it wasn't a question of independence it was a question the continental system with alexander had agreed pearl xander a person russia had agreed to participate in the continental system which was an economic blockade of great britain who was the main adversary of napoleonic france . it wasn't working real well and it wasn't even working real well and. france and

alexander was under a great deal of pressure from his family and his nobles and business class to to say the heck with with with this and to reestablish legitimate trade with england there was already smuggling going on all across europe the system was working in some respects it was actually putting pressure on great britain but it was also putting pressure on the continental europe so it was becoming less popular than they could be. that said couldn't polian have somehow managed to work things out with alexander well he tried but he may have tried too late there were negotiations back and forth and it wasn't just the continental system it was also the dutch here warsaw that the russians were really really unhappy vet napoleon had created this this. duchy of warsaw which was then closely allied with france. both sides prepared for war it was this some makes this one should russia did.

all absolutely they both sides knew it was coming neither side wanted alexander did not want to war and he told the poland he would not take the first step now who knows if he ever would have the polian to settle down a child instead that alexander could have attacked oh of course it was they could have crossed that i would alexander made a very concerted effort he got into an alliance with with the sweden he finished up the issue with with turkey with the ottoman empire where there had been a conflict and he lies his troops and he made certain demands on the pole and he he demanded at one point that napoleon abolished the duchy of warsaw be turning his back on the poles who he had promised to to to to protect. both sides made demands that they ought to have known the other side wasn't going to be able to take but there was room for agreement alexander could have been a little more willing to give in and the polian could have been

a little more willing to give in and it might very well a worked out they had a pretty good personal relationship after til sit in heaven they actually did have a good relationship polian and eighty nine after he at the battle of wagner where he defeated the austrians was actually very generous to alexander who hadn't really been much help in that campaign even though they were allied but he gave us a significant chunk of territory to to. to russia two to alexander. and the final analysis on the poland just had to make the decision that he did he want to fight he wanted to fight on russian territory and not fight in poland our german says david markham president of the international napoleonic society spotlight will be back shortly we'll continue this interview in less than a minute so don't go with it.

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don't come. welcome back to spotlight i'm just a reminder that my guest on the show today is david mark am president of the international napoleonic society as we can see the code the napoleonic code it is written all of your ties is that it is that i started a polio like. bunch of french stuff but but it does have a i do mean a very well you know and and ok the ring is an eighteen thirteen forty franc piece too so you know so is it authentic authentic ok so we we've just started talking about the eight hundred twelve war of france which napoleon fought against against the russians now let's take a look at the history of the french invasion of russia back in eight hundred twelve here's this report from spotlight's union they did neither. the

battle of corroded nor the bloodiest in the napoleonic wars is recreated every year at its historic location with people having the chance to hear the poland's cannonballs and smell of gunpowder the french army invaded russia in june aden twelve for nepal and by then an undefeated military genius with almost all of europe on the his control that was a natural step and satiate in his imperialist to capital had at first things went well for the french russians not ready for a major battle kept on retreating the battle which eventually changed the course a war happened on the seventh of september in the village of burden on the in moscow the russian troops were led by me. to huge on this question in the greatest battle up to that moment of the quarter of a new and soldiers. seventy thousand became casualties ever since but those of have

been considered one of the most brilliant russian military leaders napoleon was so impressed by the russians he described them as invincible deserves our army had to retreat the battle left the french so devastated they could never recover their losses the poland and did more school seven days after the battle several things could spoil the joy for him at the time st petersburg and not moscow was russia's capital beside the moscow in the pool and it was abandoned and burned so was not to let the french get any supplies and the poland waited in vain for the russians are to capitulate to lack of supplies the coming of russian winter and the constant guerrilla warfare contributed to the eventual defeat of his army this trample arch in moscow which looks very much like the one in paris is the main symbol of russia's victory the war lost by the french put an end to the poland's reputation

as an invincible military leader. it also reshaped dramatically european politics at the time that was the beginning of the decline of french control of the country . david well i hope we both know a little bit more about the war now but the question that i don't think anybody knows the answer to me can give us a good napoleon have a chance of winning the borg russia was their show. oh absolutely once had the russians decided to give battle early on in the campaign which was what napoleon had anticipated that was normally the way that what they want you know of any you know if it ever was because that's what interest but with the wars and in my own right that the wars of that are of that period of time in history they wouldn't would by like taking territories they will most of them the one by armies by a pretty compact armies you know was that major battle and that battle decided

which king was what it might have been more than one battle but typically it was battles and one side wins and the other side loses and when the polian came across the name and river at eight hundred twelve he had what was probably the largest army in the history of the world up to that time numbers vary but it was somewhere around six hundred thousand roughly a third of which were french and the rest were his allies so it was the way they call it the grand are made of the great army and has even there's even this street in paris live we knew they were going down you learn a lot of good measures through yeah and you know so i had to totally are but graziano who were the two commanders of the russian forces in the west at that time given battle or had the polian not made some delays that allowed them to slip away

then the polling almost certainly would do what i think any russian historian would tell you that at that point the polian power was so overwhelming but on the field of battle but of course there are the russians are not idiots they they you they know that and they and they even warned napoleon literally the czar and others had warned polio we're not going to do that we're going to draw you into mother russia we're going to make you extend your lines of supply lose lose this elusive there that no radio is going to be in the line of command is there anything you're going to lose. some supplies you're going to have to leave men behind to guard your your lines of supply communication which means by the time you do end up fighting us you're not going to be six hundred thousand dollars you didn't she were even worse than today well you know yes yes absolutely absolutely all of the traffic in moscow wasn't this bad. at any rate so when they finally did fight at bora dino and the point was right about one thing there's no way that

politically the emperor alexander could have allowed the ground are made the polian to take moscow without a fight because they couldn't surrender that city so to saw who was by then in command of the forces did pitch battle at bora dado and by the normal ways of determining who wins and who loses. the the ground army won the russians lost and the russians lost because they had to retreat they had to leave the field of battle the polling was left holding it and then he had an unimpeded way on and to moscow russia and say it was well at least it was a draw but we had to treat because otherwise it would have lost his army because i say something close to the i say the in the polling clearly won but that it didn't matter because because there was really nothing that was going to happen in his

favor ok he gets to moscow had moscow not been burned by the by the russians which was a very smart move in my opinion for them to do that he might have winter there got reinforcements it might have been ok but between being bloodied badly burra deano and then not really being able to effectively stay involved i wouldn't know that russia wants or you know this is a major reason for that is aster however. what's not as well known is that the russian summer extremely hot actually caused a lot of casualties caused a lot of horses to die had a lot of men to die there was there were there were problems going in as well as going out but of course the images of the russian winter and the soldiers freezing and all this stuff. clothing i mean they didn't want to close because napoleon never expected to go even to smolensk one and the worst case smolensk

would have been as far as he was going to go i have already said that in the opinion of many many historians he betrayed the the interest of the french revolution you don't agree to that but another thing about betrayal many people say especially the russians say that napoleon i mean this stories have betrayed you know maori because because when the army started retreating napoleon. left the army and rushed to rush back to front is devoted you think that was a betrayal now and first of all it's not true that he didn't leave when they started he didn't leave the army until they had crossed the bures ina and were relatively safe on the other side of the barriers even getting into poland at that point he had been gone long enough there had been uncovered a plot against him in france. and so at that point he and a few close advisors decided to to to leave the army where he was no longer really necessary i mean he he the army what was left of it was compact it was now forming

into a reasonable force it could continue moving moving west on its own he was needed in paris you have to remember he wasn't just a commanding general he was a commanding general alone and then took off yeah you could say he betrayed them but he was also the emperor of the french and he had to get back and run his country i looked such a big fan of the russians or alexandra zero of napoleon but still. do you think that it was these so responsibility from the po we have been. the party i mean the bloodshed of these napoleonic wars what should it what was it a collective guilt of the of the countries involved maybe including the russian empire i would say absolutely a collective guilt in fact i would say the poland has less skill for most of them if you look at it if you look at the goal in the poll the poll when it was just because he won there was not a great way out of me because he gave his name to the whole epic most most serious historians call them the war of coalitions there was

a series of coalitions that each time it was a different set of countries. russia and france were allies for for a number of years. and they this goes back to the french revolution they couldn't stand to things they couldn't stand the french revolution had taken away the king's illegitimately is in there in their view and then they couldn't stand this upstart bonaparte who had managed to come in and take over and become emperor a trying to be like them from their point of view and so you have a constant sort of coalitions being raised to try to force france to take back our bourbon king and if you don't believe me look what happened anything fourteen eighteen fifteen that's exactly what they did they didn't say ok france you have this this terrible the pollie and we beat him now you decide who you would like to have as your leader and what kind of government no you will take louis the eighty eighth whether you like it or not it's an interesting thing like at that time all

the king's all the leaders of the major european countries they were good friends and usually i was going to say they really related a lot of what they all went to war nowadays they all hate each other but they expect to. go against well i'm going to run that many each other in half pace and then let me be good and good buddies and relatives of that war and you see david you see the polian said conquest has a project aimed at creating a united europe so does that mean we can compare it with today's european. the union which is led by france and germany by the way lots of people actually believe that napoleon was the forerunner of a unified europe that he was the first stage in the development of what became modern modern europe but it wasn't necessarily totally determined by what he was planning because as i said he did not start with the possible exception you could argue of eight hundred twelve where it was a kind of a question of who made the first move the other coalitions were moves against him

by various forces and then he wins and he ends up taking territory and he did have a vision at least he said when he was in exile st helena of a unified europe with with one system of weights and measures and so for that i was a joke and and one leader namely him you know which is fair enough he was not the only one who had that kind of hope thank you thank you very much for being with this was a thrill listening to you and i have just to remind you that my guest today was david martin the president of the international on the podium to time the spotlight will be back with more than a comment on what's going on in and outside aggression until then it's on t.v. and take your.

they were in trouble threatening to attack civilian planes on the bridge to the country claiming that being used to supply the government with weapons. also box and be rated iran's it with burning its position in the international arena after hosting a summit of dozens of nations at the international atomic war stockpiles of pressure on the country both stepping up new black city. and disease room bills it's a little red trivia game tehran look at how the free market is helping the israeli population prepare for reciprocal the time. you saw russia and iran the world this is us he was me our thanks for joining it's

the rebel free syrian army are threatening to target civilian flights coming into the country the fighters claim the government is using the planes to bring in weapons from aboard including from russia while in moscow foreign minister sergei lavrov has rated rated russia is not supporting the syrian leadership but pushing for talks involving all sides now joined live by all season on the boycotts on hello to tell us more about the rebels and threats and what exactly love rob had to say about the syrian conflict. well you know this is obviously a very troubling development one of the groups associated with different syrian army posted and notice on its facebook page saying that starting from september third they're reserving the right. to attack civil planes operating from damascus and aleppo airports because they believe that the syrian regime the syrian authorities may be using those planes just mundell in weapons from russia iran iraq and lebanon now most international airlines have long suspended deaf lives to the

syrian cities. air flow at the russian flag shop flagship carrier did that three weeks ago so the main airline that's will be affected by these decision if it's ever carried out will be the syrian air now we obviously cannot verify whether or not the syrian authorities will ever do such a thing but from my own observations in syria i can tell you that syrian air is not inundated with desperate syrians who are trying to leave the country they. are waiting lease is several months long and you only need to go to the damascus or a lap or airport to see how many people are really trying to get on those planes and you know it's very difficult to imagine that there will be a space for any significant arms supplies on boards of that of those planes now

similar allegations have been surface before not with regards to these syrian airlines but rather with regards to turkish airlines they were asama legations that this company may be using its planes to smuggle weapons from syria into turkey and down onto our syria for the free syrian army but those allegations are never proven now as for now we still haven't heard any reaction to this news from the russian authorities i'm pretty sure that they're going to deny that russia would be involved in such operations in any matter sergey lavrov russian foreign minister was just talking to you students here in moscow shortly and. he once again reiterated russian position. on this conflict that if you are really interested in trying to bring an end to bloodshed all the international players should that time to put pressure on all sides in this conflict here is what he said.

demanding that. the government forces in syria while at the same time the urging the opposition continue flowing to this position is based on the these forces are ready to pay an extra price which will be a huge number of human lives. that it was russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov he also said. when it comes to goals international goals in syria russia has absolutely no disagreement with the west russia also wants to see syria as a free democratic stable state where the main disagreement lies on the means of which giving that goal and whether it could be done through violence and armed resistance international intervention more or whether it could be done through diplomatic efforts and internal syrian dialogue all right action avoid reporting there live sunday many thanks indeed for that report. turkey says it will continue to push for foreign protected save zones inside syria despite opposition from

russia and china and its allies claim that intervention is needed to help refugees fleeing the conflict but syrian rebels say the move would also help examine the fight against president assad and political analyst and freelance writer. skeptical that the measure would even be aimed at protecting civilians in the first place. this is not going to marry very curious what should be done is to follow is to push for a negotiation for a very look with the syrian leadership and with the opposition for example next month we have the interim opposition meeting inside of damascus. syria so why do some states are not hoping the syrians for a political solution where there are many going for you see this awkward you have these. and the fundamentalists in syria sided by the paragraph that has the result of. this against a secular state it's like syria i'm going to work we're kind of studio expecting in

the future but syria falls in the hands of this experience of the cohesion of the syrian society will be totally collapsed you could have only by because of the whole of the middle east. iran has taken steps to change its image as an international outcast of a hundred nations have offered the support of its controversial nuclear program their final declaration of the summit of nonaligned states hosted by to run box the right for all countries to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes while the gathering was being held the u.n. nuclear watchdog released its latest report accusing iran of increasing your reign when richmond i.a.e.a. findings suggest a number of centrifuges at one of iran's facilities has more than doubled but one has dismissed the document as politically motivated and said mohammad marandi a professor at the university have to run things it's unlikely the timing is purely coincidental the iranians are saying.